Impact of urban land cover change on the garden city status and land surface temperature of Kumasi

Caleb Mensah,Julia Atayi,Amos T Kabo-Bah,Daniel Acheampong,Nana Agyemang Prempeh,Michal V Marek,Richard Kyere-Boateng,Marian Švik,Fei Li

doi:10.1080/23311843.2020.1787738

Abstract

Rapid urban expansion and development have resulted in the conversion of many natural green surfaces within cities to non-transpiring built-up surfaces, such as concrete and asphalt. These artifici...

Highlights

Urbanization continues to create more economic growth opportunities for many countries by ensuring the provision of social services such as education, basic healthcare, reliable access to good drinking water, sanitation services, electricity, massive industrial infrastructures and quality transportation hubs that are necessary for commercial development (Desa, 2014)
The urban heat islands (UHIs), which are quite noticeable at night and during the summer periods, will lead to thermal discomfort within the urban areas and have severe consequences on human, animal and plant health, consumption and even productivity (Demuzere et al, 2014)
With the tropics expected to experience extreme heat conditions under a moderate temperature of 2.0°C increase in global mean air temperatures, the heat stress within these West African cities will be enhanced (Schellnhuber et al, 2014). Since these expanding tropical urban areas remain ill-equipped to manage the possible risks associated with thermal discomfort, there is the growing need to assess the impact of urban land cover changes on urban surface temperatures (Burkart et al, 2011), thereby identifying areas within these tropical cities, where immediate mitigation measures could be introduced (Emmanuel & Loconsole, 2015; Jim & Chan, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Urbanization continues to create more economic growth opportunities for many countries by ensuring the provision of social services such as education, basic healthcare, reliable access to good drinking water, sanitation services, electricity, massive industrial infrastructures and quality transportation hubs that are necessary for commercial development (Desa, 2014). With the tropics expected to experience extreme heat conditions under a moderate temperature of 2.0°C increase in global mean air temperatures, the heat stress within these West African cities will be enhanced (Schellnhuber et al, 2014) Since these expanding tropical urban areas remain ill-equipped to manage the possible risks associated with thermal discomfort, there is the growing need to assess the impact of urban land cover changes on urban surface temperatures (Burkart et al, 2011), thereby identifying areas within these tropical cities, where immediate mitigation measures could be introduced (Emmanuel & Loconsole, 2015; Jim & Chan, 2016). Many studies have been conducted to determine the effect of the changes in the urban land cover types on the variability of the LST, using remote sensing application techniques (Amiri et al, 2009; Chen et al, 2013; Hu et al, 2015; Igun & Williams, 2018; Karlessi et al, 2011; Larsen, 2015; Zhibin et al, 2015)

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Conclusion